1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed toward garments, and more particularly toward low lint garments for use in painting booths and the like.
2. Background Art
In many work environments, protective clothing is important. For example, coveralls, aprons and the like have long been used to protect workers and/or their clothing from contamination by the job.
In some work environments, it is also important, even critical, to protect the job from contamination by the worker. One such example are "clean rooms" used to manufacture computer components. In such environments, it is important to protect the manufactured product from contamination.
In other environments, it is important to protect both the worker and the work. For example, in paint shops, particularly those which apply the paint electrostatically, it is important that all lint and dust be kept from the paint booth. It is well known that the electrostatic charge which helps to draw the paint to the surface being painted in such jobs will also draw any such lint and dust to the surface as well. Of course, such lint and dust will essentially ruin the quality of the paint job, not only in appearance but also its durability.
Accordingly, coveralls made of various non-linting, non-particulate generating materials have heretofore been used. Such coveralls must, however, be of a type which can be comfortably worn all day, as well as easily slipped on and off for persons needing to enter the work environment for only short periods. Still further, in order to meet those needs in a practical manner, it is important that only a few different sizes of coveralls be adequate to fit the wide variety of sizes of people in the work force.
Heretofore, coveralls have had only limited success in meeting the often conflicting goals of worker comfort and lint and dust prevention. For example, while loose, non-constrictive coveralls are desirable from a comfort standpoint, such clothing is often counterproductive to the job. That is, loose or baggy clothing is highly susceptible to accidental brushing against (and therefore marring) a painted surface.
Further, looseness at the wrists, cuffs, and/or neck opening results in gaps from which lint or dust on the worker's normal clothing can escape into the work environment. Attempts to close such openings by use of elastic have been somewhat successful in reducing escaped lint, but in order to meet that objective the elastic must be such that it closes around the smallest wrists, for example, and therefore it can be extremely uncomfortable and binding on workers having larger wrists. Buttons or snaps have also been used heretofore to provide some adjustability at such openings, but those snaps, particularly when used at the wrists, can themselves often scar the paint finish if the worker is not careful when handling the workpiece.
Still further, particularly for workers who will wear the garments for long periods of time, it is desirable that they have access to some pockets, for example to get a handkerchief or tissue when they step out of the paint booth, without having to remove the coverall. Merely providing a pocket in the coveralls themselves is not, however, wholly adequate since requiring a worker to keep a tissue in an outside pocket will itself be an obvious source of contamination through the pocket opening. Further, it is desirable to give a worker access to at least one of his normal clothes pockets, so that he can, for example, get coins for use in a vending machine during a work break if desired without the inconvenience of partially taking off the coverall just to get to his pocket. Again, however, this desired convenience can conflict with the desire to keep the workers clothes, and the lint they carry, contained inside the coverall.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.